Monday, 28 September 2015

Soul Waves Radio supplies over 30 local and community radio stations throughout Ireland with news, reaction stories and features. Each week, three interviews, edited and ready for transmission, are broadcast and posted to their website, reaching an estimated audience of 300,000.

The topics are of a religious and social nature and can fit into a number of categories: Church Year, Calendar Year, Faith/Spirituality, Current Topics, Social Issues, Third World Issues, Human Interest Stories.

In the latest set of interviews, Miriam Gormally talks to me on the topic of “Understanding Islam.”

She interviewed me in my office late last week, and the Soul Waves Radio website says today [28 September 2015]:

“The Islamic religion has come under increasing scrutiny as the rise of the extremist group Isis are causing more and more people to flee Syria and come to Europe. Canon Patrick Comerford is a lecturer in Anglicanism, Liturgy and Church History in The Church of Ireland Theological Institute.

“His research interests include Christian–Muslim relations, and has published, Reflections of the Bible in the Quran: a comparison of Scriptural Traditions in Christianity and Islam.

“Here he talks with Miriam Gormally about the rise of ISIS and some of the confusion and misunderstandings that have arisen about Islam as a result. Miriam began by asking him if there is great distrust towards Islam than there has been in the past.”
The interview was originally posted on 24 September 2015, in three cateogories: Immigrants, Islam, Media.

The Theatre of Dionysus, beneath the slopes of the Acropolis, where the tragedies and comedies of Euripides, Aeschylus and Sophocles, were first performed ... theatre has its own language and rituals (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

• Off-stage directions and voices
• Dramatised swooning and dying
• Raising up a dagger
• The final bow and encore

Special clothing

• You know who is the good fairy and who is the wicked step-mother
• Period costume.
• Clothing in opera often a very different cut; this is especially so in ballet
• At the Opera, the audience often dresses very differently too.

Sacred space

• The pit for the orchestra;
• The wings and off-stage;
• Where would we be watching Romeo and Juliet without a balcony?

Where would we be watching ‘Romeo and Juliet’ without a balcony? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Responsorial language

• An important part of drama and opera
• There is a special form in pantomime:
“Look out, he’s behind you.”
“Oh yes he is, oh no he’s not.”

Signs (what do they point to?)

• Curtains close for end of act
• End of scene/end of act differentiated with an inner curtain
• Throwing roses at the diva (smashing plates in Greece)
• Chekov: if a gun on the wall, not for decoration, but symbol of later drama
• Curtain calls symbolise the end, but also invite participation in applause

Roles

• Important to know who is who in a play.
• A programme will name the producer, the director, the lighting team, stage hands ... even if not seen.

Special food?

• Interval drinks?
• People take picnics to the opera in Verona

The Opera at Verona is popular and informal … but often people dress differently for the Opera (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

What is alienating for you as a participant, as part of the audience?

• It is important to see and to hear.
• If you are a child at pantomime, then you need to be engaged, to participate, to enjoy
• What if the programme notes are not good?
• If the lighting is bad?
• If the actors’ movements don’t match the roles they’re acting.

2, Cinema

Special language

• Certainly a special time, not go in the morning.
• But even language can indicate your generational approach:
• Are they films, or movies?
• Are they westerns or cowboys.
• Is it the cinema?

Special Movements

• The blackout has its own ritual symbolism
• The usher’s light
• There is a wonderful Rowan Atkins sketch the illustrates the ritual acts appropriate in a cinema when people are watching a horror movie, and they are quite different to the ones I remember as being appropriate for young boys watching westerns
• What about how people behave at The Rocky Horror Movie or Mama Mia?

Special clothing

• The usherettes in the past
• Special clothing and behaviour for watching The Rockie Horror Movie.
• Special glasses for 3D movies

Sacred space

• Don’t stand up between me, the projector and the screen.

Responsorial language

• Yes actually, watch outside when people are leaving a movie.

Signs (what do they point to):

• How to find the exit, the loo and the food sales point; they too make a difference.

Roles:

• Not just the roles in the movie
• The ticket seller,
• The ticket checker,
• The usher,
• the projectionist
• Each has a role that is different from my place in the audience

Special food?

• Popcorn!

What is alienating for you as a participant, as part of the audience?

• If the lights come on at the wrong time
• If the advertising goes on too long
• If others stand up or talk during the sacred moment.

3, Sports (Soccer, Rugby, Golf)

Villa Park ... like many English football clubs, Aston Villa has its origins in local church activities … but football has evolved its own rituals and language

Special language:

• technical terms:
• I don’t know what a birdie or an eagle is
• “Fore!”
• What does love mean in tennis?
• The referee’s whistle is a special sign language, with different meanings in one or two pips, and a long sharp blast

Special Movements:

• special entrances and exits
• addressing the ball
• lining up the teams at a cup final
• Shaking hands with the President
• The hakka
• The Mexican wave
• Waving bananas

Special clothing:

• Players’ clothing is distinct from the referee’s as well as from each other
• Special kit for the goalkeeper
• Golf!
• Tennis and Cricket whites
• Soccer supporters.

Sacred space

• The umpires behind the wickets
• The penalty box
• The tennis umpire’s chair
• The goal line
• The side line
• For spectators, the difference between terraces, or Hill 16, or The Kop.

Responsorial language

• Football chants and slogans
• “The referee’s a …”
• Where is it appropriate to sing The Fields of Athenry or Ireland’s Call?
• The drums among French rugby supporters
• The Mexican wave?

Signs (what do they point to?):

• Again, the Mexican wave?
• Yellow card, red card
• The flag at the hole on the green
• The goal posts
• The circle, and the penalty box
• The scoreboard in cricket

• Certainly at American football
• Strawberries at Wimbledon
• How often play at a cricket match adjourns for tea
• Captain’s dinner in a golf club
• Champagne, and popping corks at Formula 1

What is alienating for you as a participant or part of the audience?

• Sitting among the wrong supporters, at the Kop, Hill 16 or the Canal End
• Ladies’ day in golf clubs?
• Fixing times of matches to suit television viewers (in China)?
• Flares are a real bugbear at Greek soccer matches.

Cricket has its own clear distinctions when it comes to language, space, roles, signs, clothing and food … Cricket on a Saturday afternoon in Grantchester, near Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

4, Domestic

Birthdays, wedding anniversaries, name days, Sunday dinner:

At our dinner table, even on weekdays, we like to have flowers on table, usually candles, bread, wine, a salad … then we know the table is set and we can begin dinner. We serve each other the food, we raise glasses, καλή όρεξη, bon appetite.
Special language

It is alienating when others behave inappropriately, using wrong language, songs, signs, and movements at the wrong times.

How many remember clips of Marilyn Monroe popping up and singing … “Happy Birthday.” But it was inappropriate. She was and still is the focus of attention. Who remembers how old JFK was then?

5, Political and secular

Special language

• The speaker calling the house to order
• Invoking points of order
• Giving way

Special Movements

• The state opening of parliament
• The Lord Mayor’s parade
• Judges processing into court, “Please arise”
• Sitting on different sides of the house (hence, left and right)
• Waving order papers
• Speaking from the dispatch box
• Swearing in the jury/or the jury retiring
• The house adjourning

• Please approach the bench
• The speaker’s chair.
• At parades, the reviewing platform, and who is seated where.
• The press gallery

Responsorial language

• Order, order.
• Hear, hear.

Signs/icons (what do they point to?)

• The woolsack
• A Mayor’s chain of office
• The keys of the city
• A judge’s wig or black cap.

Special food?

• If you’ve been on a jury you may not like to recall that
• But draw on other ritual food, like birthday cakes, popping champagne, &c
• The members’ bar

Roles

• The court bailiff
• Black Rod
• The Gentlemen Ushers
• The tellers

What is alienating for you as a participant/or in the audience?

• Parliamentary procedures can be alienating
• But look at the number of people who queue up to visit the Dail or Westminster.
• There are people with positive experience of being jurors … justice was done, and they had a good day
• The state opening of parliament.

Summary:

In all of these, body language matters.

If I put out my hand for a handshake and you refuse it, who feels bad?

Do you give each other a kiss? When is it not appropriate?

An example of misinterpreted body language is easily provided by Greek head movements for yes and no, and can have consequences if I am in the line for a loo.

We create ritual and liturgy in every walk of society.

We are alienated when we are counted out, when we fail to understand what’s going on, or when it loses meaning for us.

In all of these, there are essential ingredients to make sure it works, and they usually include:

• the wrong language, signs, responses, movements, roles are used
• when the right ones are misappropriated
• when we feel counted out
• when we fail to understand what’s going on
• or when the ritual or liturgy loses meaning for us.

And a good understanding of these social uses of ritual help us to understand when and how good liturgy works for us and for others, and how and why bad liturgy can be alienating for us and for others.

Worksheet for seminar/workshop:

Space and sign, meaning and timing:

Special language

Special Movements

Special clothing

Sacred space

Responsorial language

Signs/Icons (what do they point to?)

Roles

Special food?

Manual/facial actions:

What is alienating for you as participant/audience?

Next:

Liturgy 2.1: The theology of space, and its implications for church buildings.

Liturgy 2.2: The use of church buildings in relation to the mission of God expressed through the Church (Seminar, based on readings from Richard Giles, Re-pitching the tent, Norwich: Canterbury Press, 3rd ed, 2004).

Chapter 8: pp 53-58.

Chapter 14: pp 103-108.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. These notes were shared in a seminar/workshop on the MTh module, TH8824: Liturgy, Worship and Spirituality, with full-time MTh students, Years II, on 28 September 2015.

O Lord,
hear the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Introductions:

Our opening prayer is the collect of Sunday of last week [20 September 2015], the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. It talks about both perception and knowledge. And this module on liturgy, worship and spirituality is about both knowledge and perception.

In our first hour, I hope we can have:

(a) Introduction to Liturgy;
(b) Signs and symbols in today’s culture;
(c) Introduction to the texts, readings and methodology.

In other words, I want to introduce us to the topics being covered in this module and the methodologies we are using; and in particular, this afternoon, to develop an understanding of liturgical space, place, time and structure, with a critical comparison with secular ‘liturgies’.

(A) Introduction to Liturgy: ritual and symbol, meanings and language:

Some introductory remarks:

• Good and bad experiences
• Liturgy and our expectations
• Liturgy in the world today:

1, Drama (Plays, Opera, Pantomime).2, The Cinema3, Sport (Soccer, Rugby)4, Domestic5, Political and secular
[Full discussion of Point 5 later in 1.2]

• Liturgy not in The Book of Common Prayer:

Not all liturgy in the Church of Ireland is to be found in The Book of Common Prayer.

Are these domestic/family, secular/political, folk/religious liturgies?

Some of these have been easily adapted in recent years by imaginatively tailoring them to a Service of the Word. But they were there long before we introduced the idea of a Service of the Word. Are these domestic/family, secular/political, folk/religious liturgies?

And there are quasi-religious liturgies too:

• Orange marches
• Remembrance Day services

What do we mean by liturgy?

Liturgy is more than rite and words. The components of all liturgy include an understanding of the role and function of:

Liturgy is not necessarily a sacred word. Sometimes it even has vulgar connotations. Some examples include:

Laou-laou (Λαου-λαου): on the sly, sneakingly.

Λαουτζίκος (Laoutzíkos) ... the common people; we are all members of the laity

Laoutzíkos (Λαουτζίκος): the populace, the rabble, the vulgar horde; this use has been current this year during the strikes and protests in Greece about public spending cuts.

And it gives rise to secular words we all understand: the word basileós (βασιλεύς, modern βασιλιάς), for a king, literally means the one who goes before or leads the people.

I was reminded in Crete recently that ‘The Beggars’ Opera’ translates into Greek as Η λαϊκή όπερα (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Greek word leitourgía (λειτουργία) means public duty. We now restrict this to the worship of the church, and even more specifically and restrictively to the ritual worship of the Church. In Greece, essentially, it is the Eucharist.

The word liton for a town hall is derived from λος, los, a dialectal variant of λαός (laós, people), is combined with ἔργον (érgon), work (werg- in Indo-European roots).

So basically liturgy means the “public work of the people”, the masses, all of us, for we are all members of the λαός, laós, the people.

I was reminded in Crete recently that The Beggars’ Opera translates into Greek as Η λαϊκή όπερα.

Liturgy (λειτουργία, leitourgía) is a Greek composite word meaning originally a public duty, a service to the state undertaken by a citizen. Its elements are λειτος, leitos (from leos or laos, people) meaning public, and ergo (obsolete in the present stem, used in future erxo, etc.), to do.

From this we have leitourgós (λειτουργός), “a man who performs a public duty,” “a public servant,” often used as equivalent to the Roman lictor; then leitourgeo, “to do such a duty,” leitourgema, its performance, and leitourgía, the public duty itself.

In Athens, the λειτουργία (leitourgía) was the public service performed by the wealthier citizens of the city state at their own expense (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the Greek city-states, it had a different sense: some public good which a wealthy citizen arranged at his own expense, either voluntarily or by law. In Athens, the Assembly assigned liturgies to the wealthy, and there was a law by which any man who had been assigned a liturgy while a richer man had had none could challenge him either to undertake the liturgy or to exchange property with him.

In Athens, the λειτουργία (leitourgía) was the public service performed by the wealthier citizens at their own expense, such as the offices of:

The Gymnasium at Olympia, where the athletes trained ... the Gymnasíarchos superintended the gymnasium

• Gymnasíarchos (γυμνασίαρχος), who superintended the gymnasium.

The Greek chorus in ‘The Bacchai’ at the National Theatre ... the Choregós paid the members of the chorus in the theatre (Photograph: Tristram Kenton)

• Choregós (χορηγός), who paid the members of the chorus in the theatre.

The hestiátoras gave a banquet ... and his public service finds a reminder in the modern Greek word for a restaurant, εστιατόριο (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

• Hestiátoras (εστιάτορας) who gave a banquet to his tribe – the word survives in the modern Greek, meaning a restaurateur (the modern Greek word for a restaurant is εστιατόριο, a place of public service, where the public is served food.

The Triérarchos in Athens outfitted and paid for a warship for the state (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

• Triérarchos (τριήραρχος) provided public service to the state in Athens by outfitting and paying for a warship for the state.

How do you see those four roles represented in those who provided the service of the people, the liturgy of the Church, today?

[Discussion]

The meaning of the word liturgy is then extended to cover any general service of a public kind. In the Septuagint, the word liturgy (and the verb λειτουργέω leitourgéo) is used for the public service of the temple (e.g., Exodus 38: 27; 39: 12, etc). It then it came to have a religious sense: the function of the priests, the ritual service of the Temple (e.g., Joel, 1: 9; 2: 17, etc.).

An icon of the Priest Zechariah in the Temple

In the New Testament, this religious meaning has become definitely established. In Luke, 1: 23, Zechariah goes home when “the days of his liturgy” (αἱ ἡμέραι τῆς λειτουργίας αὐτοῦ, ai hemérai tes leitourgías autou) are over. In Hebrews 8: 6 (διαφορωτέρας τέτυχεν λειτουργίας, diaphorotéras tétuchen leitourgías), the high priest of the New Law “has obtained a better liturgy,” that is, a better kind of public religious service than that of the Temple.

So in Christian use, liturgy meant the public, official service of the Church that corresponded to the official service of the Temple in the Old Law.

In today’s usage, by liturgy we mean the form of rite or services prescribed by the various Christian churches.

The liturgy of the Roman Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox, and some other branches of the Church centres upon the Eucharist.

In the Western Church, the principal services traditionally centred on the Eucharist

In the Western Church, the principal service – in both the Gallican (including Celtic, Mozarabic and Ambrosian) and Roman families of the liturgy – centred on the Eucharist. In the Roman Catholic Church there are nine rites with distinctive liturgies, in various languages. The Orthodox Eastern Church has several liturgies. The ancient liturgies of the East are classified as Antiochene or Syrian, with modern liturgies in Greek, Old Slavonic, Romanian, Armenian, Arabic, and Syriac, and Alexandrine or Egyptian (with liturgies in Coptic and Ethiopic).

But, in a broader sense, liturgy includes the divine office (given in the Breviary) and also services other than the Eucharist.

With the Reformation, the Reformers generally shifted towards the sermon as the focus of formal worship, and adopted vernacular speech.

In the 20th century, the liturgical movement sought to purify and renew the liturgy. This movement is a shared experience for all Western churches. The changes the liturgical movement ushered in include:

• the use of vernacular languages in the liturgies;
• participation of the laity in public prayer,
• a new emphasis on music and song.
• the formulation and reform of services.
• and wider awareness of the value of form itself.

Two factors often lead to confusion:

1, Liturgy often means the whole complex of official services, all the rites, ceremonies, prayers, and sacraments of the Church, as opposed to private devotions.

In this sense we speak of the arrangement of all these services in certain set forms – including the canonical hours, administration of sacraments, etc. – that are used officially by any local church, as the liturgy of such a church: the Liturgy of Antioch, the Roman Liturgy, and so on. So liturgy means rite. We speak indifferently of the Byzantine Rite or the Byzantine Liturgy.

In the same way, we distinguish the official services from others by calling them liturgical. Those services are liturgical that are contained in any of the official books of a rite. In the Roman Church, for instance, Compline is a liturgical service, while the Rosary is not.

2, The word liturgy, now the common one in all Eastern Churches, restricts it to the chief official service only – the Eucharist or the rite we also call the Holy Communion. This is now practically the only sense in which leitourgia is used in Greek, or in its derived forms (e. g., Arabic al-liturgiah) by any Eastern Christian.

(B) Signs and symbols in today’s culture:

In our use of language today, we know the difference between signs, icons, symbols, indices, and what they actually represent or point us to:

Icon:

Icons on computers serve as an international language

On the computer, icons serve as an international language:

• A half-open manila folder allows me to open a document or folder;
• Who remembers floppy discs? A floppy disc is not a floppy disc: it is an iconic sign allowing me to “Save the Present Document”;

These icons have international use and value. A new set of icons is developing for iPhones. But the icons work only if I can grasp the link between the sign and the function being carried out.

Index:

The weather cock on Christ Church Cathedral ... a weather cock on a church is not an icon, it is an index (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Unlike an icon, an index does not look like the concept it is conveying:

• A weather cock points to the direction the wind is blowing.
• An arrow on the road points the direction for traffic – it could be fatal to confuse it with an icon, and think there was a danger of an attack by archers if I continue to drive on.
• A knock on the door: this is not about the sound, but is an indication that someone outside wants to get in. If I attend to the sound and count the rhythm, they may go away.
• Clues point to a criminal, they are not the crime and they are not the criminal.

All of these depend on habit and custom, convention and interpretation. If we use the wrong one, if I am in the wrong place, if we make the wrong use of one or misinterpret an icon or an index, this may be alienating and even life-threatening.

There are nine million bicycles in Beijing ... but they all need to know whether to stop or to go at red and green lights (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

During the Cultural Revolution in China, the colour red indicated revolution and therefore forward thinking. Green turned to red at traffic lights, and red to green. If you misinterpret the colours of traffic lights – in Beijing or in Dublin – you may find yourself in the wrong lane, at best, in the casualty ward or funeral home at worst.

So, I want us to be aware of space and its role in the liturgy: liturgical space as liturgical icon and liturgical sign. Watch next Sunday in your parish churches, or later this week at the Eucharist here, at the ways in which we liturgically use signs, symbols and space.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This essay is based on notes for a lecture on the MTh module, TH8824: Liturgy, Worship and Spirituality, with Year II full-time MTh students on 28 September 2015.

Week 2, 05.10.2015:
2.1, The theology of space, and its implications for church buildings; 2.2,The use of church buildings in the mission of God expressed through the Church (Seminar with readings from Richard Giles).

Week 10, 20.11.2015:
8.1, Baptism and Eucharist (3) the contemporary life and mission of the Church. Worship and inculturation.8.2, Theology of the whole people of God, the theology and rites of ordination; gender and ministry.

Week 12, 14.12.2015:
10.1 and 2, Seminar: Sacred space and public worship in another context -- visit to a public place of worship of another faith.

Module Content:

Offering time

1, The relationship between doctrines of creation/Trinity and Christian theology of worship and prayer.
2, The development of the liturgical year and the daily office.
3, Different traditions of prayer, e.g. Benedictine, Franciscan, Reformation, contemporary.
4, Patterns of prayer today (including all-age worship, participation of children in worship, worship and youth).

Means of grace

5, The nature and theology of sacraments.
6, Ritual and symbol.
7, The theology and development of rites of Baptism and the Eucharist in the early Church, the Protestant Reformers, liturgical renewal among Catholics and Protestants in the 20th century.
8, Ecumenical statements, e.g., WCC Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry.
9, Baptism and Eucharist in the contemporary life and mission of the Church. Worship and inculturation.
10, Rites of passage, e.g., Marriages, Funerals.

Making space

11, The Christian theology of space, and its implications for church buildings.
12, The use of church buildings in relation to the mission of God expressed through the Church.

Worship and the Word

13, The Ministry of the Word.
14, A critical grasp of the history of homiletics, including close study of examples, e.g. Augustine, Thomas Cranmer, Lancelot Andrewes, John Wesley, Martin Luther King.
15, Patterns and models of homiletics for the context of 21st century Ireland.
16, The ‘Word’ expressed in music and art.
17, The relationship between Word and Sacrament.

Ministers of faith

18, Theology of the whole people of God, and within that the theology of ordination.
19, How such theology is expressed in rites of ordination, historical and contemporary.
20, The minister as person, private, public and holy.
21, Spirituality for ministry; the practice of spiritual direction, in history and contemporary examples; gender, spirituality and ministry.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module students will be able:

• To understand and appropriate the history, theology and liturgical praxis of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry;
• To appreciate the significance of both time and place in Christian worship and mission;
• To be able to articulate the way in which liturgies can both reflect and challenge social norms.
• To engage critically with the history of homiletics in the creation and delivery of sermons.
• To display knowledge of the diversity of approaches to spirituality found in the history of the Church; to appreciate the theory and practice of spiritual direction against the background of the history of Christian spirituality; to show awareness of the relationship between different personality types and different paths in Christian spirituality; to demonstrate appreciation of the need for a minister to develop a personal spiritual discipline.

Teaching and Learning Methods:

This module will be taught through a series of lectures and student-led seminars.
Students are required to take part in and lead class seminars and also to take part in collaborative small groups and independent study.

There will be a joint seminar with each of the other two strands – Biblical Studies and Theology.

Semester: 1; Hours: 2 per week; 5 Credits

Assessment: 2,500 words of coursework (e.g. essay or project as agreed by the course leader).

Date for submission: Monday, 21 December 2015, 12 noon.

Essay titles:

1, Discuss the principal institution narratives in the New Testament and explain the liturgical problems and insights that may be gained from the narrative of the Last Supper in Saint John’s Gospel.

2, Identify the principal differences between Order I and II for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer in The Book of Common Prayer (2004), and compare the advantages and disadvantages in using them in a contemporary parish setting on Sundays.

or

Discuss the three Eucharistic Prayers for Holy Communion 2 in The Book of Common Prayer (2004), comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences in emphases.

3, Outline the changes and reforms in Anglican rites of the Holy Communion (Eucharist) at the Reformation, and outline how they were influenced by changes and developments in the Continental Reformations.

or

Trace the background to the development of the Sarum Rite or Use of Sarum and discuss its relevance to the development of The Book of Common Prayer (2004) and Anglican liturgy.

4, Discuss the contribution of either John Keble or Charles Gore to the Anglican understandings of tradition and the sacraments, compare them with those of Charles Simeon, and discuss the relevance of their writings today.

or

Outline and compare the contribution to our understandings of Anglican spirituality made by two of the following writers: Evelyn Underhill, Dorothy Sayers, Cecil Frances Alexander or Elizabeth Canham.

5, Explain the importance of the Eucharistic chapters in the Didache and discuss their relevance for thinking about liturgy in the contemporary church.

or

‘The Apostolic Fathers and the Desert Fathers provided the inspiration for Christian spirituality throughout the Middle Ages and beyond.’ Discuss their relevance to the Christian tradition of spirituality.

6, Discuss the Service of the Word as outlined in The Book of Common Prayer (2004) and examine the principal opportunities and difficulties it provides in organising a Sunday service in (a) a traditional parish and (b) a new church plant.

7, Baptism has been described as the foundational sacrament of the church. Discuss how you understand the role of baptism in the life of a parish today.

or

Baptism and confirmation are generally used as two separate rites today. Outline the arguments both for and against maintaining the current practice.

8, Explain the opportunities and difficulties in trying to create a sense of ‘sacred space’ in a contemporary or modern building, discuss the liturgical problems that need to be faced, and explain how you would seek to overcome them.

or

Give three examples of what may be described as public or secular liturgies, draw comparisons between your examples and the conduct of liturgy in the Church, and discuss the lessons that can be learned and shared mutually.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This module outline was prepared for Year II students on the MTh course at the start of the Module TH8824: Liturgy, Worship and Spirituality, on 28 September 2015.

Autumn sunshine on the River Liffey on Sunday afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

The bright, sunny autumn weather continued on Sunday [27 September 2015], with blues skies and warm sunshine in Dublin for the last of this year’s ordinations in Christ Church Cathedral.

Four priests were ordained this afternoon: the Revd Alan Breen (Greystones), the Revd Cathy Hallissey (Taney), the Revd Ruth O’Kelly (Rathfarnham) and the Revd Abigail Sines (Christ Church Cathedral Group of Parishes).

I am working on the final stages of a chapter on preaching and the Eucharist, and it was heartening to be reminded throughout the afternoon that as priests we are ordained to a ministry of both word and sacrament:

Bishop: In your ministry will you expound the Scriptures and teach that doctrine?

Answer: I will.

And then, soon after:

Bishop: Will you encourage God’s people to be good stewards of their gifts …?

Answer: I will.

I was robed and in my stall in the cathedral as a member of the chapter, and it is very moving to come down during the singing of Veni, creator Spiritus to join the archbishop and the other priests present in laying hands on all the candidates.

After laying hands on the new priests, the bishop then continues:

“Give to these your servants grace and power to fulfil the ministry to which they are called, to proclaim the gospel of your salvation; to minister the sacraments of the new covenant; to watch over and care for your people; to pronounce absolution; and to bless them in your name.

Later, the bishop clearly links that word “steward” with the ministry of sacrament in the words of the Post-Communion Prayer:

Bishop: Almighty God,
you have chosen and ordained these your servants
to be ministers and stewards of your word and sacrament …

In the south ambulatory in Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Earlier in the morning, I was also in the chapter stalls for the Cathedral Eucharist, sung by the Cathedral Choir to Judith Bingham’s Missa Brevis (Awake My Soul).

This setting was commissioned for the fiftieth anniversary of the consecration of Bromley Parish Church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in 1957 after it had been razed by the force of one German high explosive bomb in 1941.

“I wanted the dramatic progression of the Mass to be about rebuilding,” she said later. Her Kyrie, she said, evokes “walking amid the ruins of the church, desolation, despair.” Echoing TS Eliot, she headed this Kyrie: “A wasteland: the ruins of a sacred building.”

The Gloria unfolds from the “decision to rebuild – a sense of renewed hope.” Her heading is: “The rebuilding begins.”

Her Sanctus enshrines the solemnity of the new church’s consecration, and is headed: “The consecration of the house.”

Her Agnus Dei, she says, turns to “the forgiveness of enemies,” a process led by the rebuilding of trust and the recognition of humanity’s mutual interdependence. The heading reads: “As we forgive them.”

Two of us went to lunch in Wallace’s Taverna on the north bank of the River Liffey, and as we crossed the river back to Temple Bar, the waters of the Liffey were sparkling the afternoon autumn sunshine.
I strolled through the second-hand book barrows in Temple Bar before returning to the cathedral, where Judith Bingham’s reflections on her setting echoed through my mind again and again as I listened to the questions put to the four new priests before their ordination:

Bishop: Will you be faithful in visiting the sick, in caring for the poor and needy, and in helping the oppressed?

Answer: I will.

Bishop: Will you p[romote unity, peace and love ….?

These are charges that are not confined to parish ministry, and all priests need to be reminded constantly of those sacred promises.